Welcome to DECODED, a blog site for those interested in the period of history between the end of the Second World War and the final reunification of Berlin, Germany. This site is maintained by a Cold War history enthusiast, for other Cold War history enthusiasts and will be a source of information from both sides of the Cold War for history enthusiasts, political science fans, researchers, military history collectors and military veterans alike. Please visit the site regularly for updates. This site by no means is to represent or endorse any political agenda or ideology, information contained within is strictly used for the purpose of education and preservation of history for future generations. Thank you for visiting my blog, and welcome to the brink...

Sunday, August 25, 2013

On the Frontlines of the Cold War: Voices of the Veterans Vol. II

SrA D. Fair, United States Air Force

Air Force Security Police

Memmingen, West Germany /Barksdale Air Force Base, United
States

My interest in serving the United States as a member of
its armed forces began when I forged a bond with a childhood friend whose
family had moved to the United States from England. His parents were older than
most parents in our community who had children my age. One of the things that
stood out the most to me was that his parents had grown up through the German
Blitz and the Battle of Britain during the Second World War and hearing their
stories of their wartime experiences and descriptions of the German Luftwaffe
aircraft they saw soon inspired me to one day join the United States Air Force
with hopes of one day being assigned to Germany. With German ancestry in my
family background it would be an interesting experience to witness my cultural
heritage first hand and soon I became determined to make my dream a reality.

Nothing could prepare me for the experiences that I had
while serving in the United States Air Force. My enlistment took me not only to
Germany but also warranted me inclusion into a small unit independent of the
larger Army or Air Force organizations which allowed for greater immersion into
the German culture. The unit had a manpower strength of roughly 120 personnel,
dependents included and placed us in a Bavarian community away from the areas
with greater American presence.

By the time I came of enlistment age I was more than
ready to go. I had grown up in a small town in Ohio which was mostly rural and
afforded not much else beyond the scope of agricultural work. I had about a
year’s worth of college under my belt, but coming from a relatively low income
family I saw military service as a way of improving my education while learning
an occupational skill. My dream to join the United States Air Force officially
became a reality when I formally enlisted in July of 1983. Due to the amount of
people wanting to join the Air Force at this time, my shipping off to basic
training was postponed until 1984 when I was sent from Cincinnati, Ohio to
Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Following the completion of
basic training, I was awarded my first stripe and the rank of Airman partially
because of my previous college. After basic training, I progressed on to Tech
School where I went to the Air Force Security Police Academy also located at
Lackland. As the Air Force is not a primarily land focused combat organization,
the Security Police in the Air Force fulfill multiple duties. One of the best
ways to describe the Security Police is as a combination of Military Police,
Security and Infantry forces. Some of the training involved included guarding
sensitive areas such as silos housing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and
undertaking the appropriate measures necessary to ensure their safeguarding.
One of the primary missions of the Air Force Security Police is defending
airbases in the event of attack as well as guarding aircraft, components and
munitions.

Soon I came under orders to report to West Germany. With
the risks associated with performing security assignments in Germany, all
Security Forces had to participate in the Air Base Ground Defense or ABGD course. The Air Base Ground Defense course was
essentially a training course in infantry tactics which provided familiarity
with a wide variety of weaponry ranging from individual small arms such as the
M-16 rifle to crew served weaponry such as the M-60 machine gun. This portion
of my training took my fellow Security Policemen and myself from Lackland Air
Force Base, to Camp Bullis part of the Army’s Fort Sam Houston installation
also in San Antonio. Going from an Air
Force facility such as Lackland to an Army facility such as Camp Bullis
provided a bit of a culture shock. Almost overnight we went from having nice
dormitories to plywood huts on slabs in the middle of Texas. We went from
running a mile and a half in basic, to two miles in the Police Academy to
having to run in combat boots during the ABGD course. Running was always the
most difficult part of physical training for me and I disliked it. Being from
Ohio, I was not prepared for blistering Texas heat of summer. Another part of
our training included Nuclear, Biological & Chemical Warfare Training often
abbreviated as NBC. This trained us in how to
prepare and respond to a potential situation if the Soviets or the
Warsaw Pact employed chemical or nuclear weapons against us. This training
continued yearly throughout the duration of my enlistment and we I can’t recall
exactly how many times we were gassed. As part of this training we became
familiar with not only our individual gas masks but also the individual ChemSuit
along with rubber gloves and boots.

After completion of the ABGD Course, I briefly returned
home to Ohio before shipping out to West Germany. My destination was Memmingen,
a small town in the Swabia region of Bavaria. I would arrive here in December
of 1984 where I was assigned to the 7261
MUNSS Munitions Support Squadron. This was a small unit comprised of security,
munitions maintainers and support personnel who were assigned to support the
West German Luftwaffe’s Jagdbombergeschwader 34 or ‘34th Fighter
Bomber Wing’. The JaBoG 34, was a unit of the West German Air Force assigned
under the 4th Allied Tactical Air Force or 4 ATAF responsible for
the defense of the southern approaches into West Germany against Soviet or
Warsaw Pact offensive operations. Our unit and the Germans forged a close bond
and many of those friendships remain intact even up to this day. The 7261’s
commanding officer was a Lieutenant Colonel named Worthen and my Chief of
Security Police was a Captain named Rivera. Daily, we carried M-16 rifles
complete with a two day supply of ammunition, a canteen, gas mask, ballistic
resistant flak jacket and a steel helmet for personal protection. Due to the JaBoG’s status as being a quick
reaction force and front line fighter unit, the upmost measures for facility
security were in place and German K-9 units were on hand to further augment the
already strict security measures.

By September of
1985, I was training to become an entry controller for our facility, but on the
final day of training I broke my leg when I deployed from a Mercedes Benz two
ton truck we used for transportation around the base. The tailgate on these
vehicles are very high and with my rifle in one hand and kit bag in the other I
leapt from the vehicle and landed on the cement curb causing great damage to my
ankle and left leg. By this time I had received a promotion to the rank of
Airman First Class, and now with my injury I was temporarily assigned to assist
the NCOIC Law Enforcement. Intended to be a temporary assignment while I
recovered from my injury, it became permanent and I became accustomed to
filling out police reports, vehicle registration, as well as processing and
issuing ID cards along with other administrative duties. When I finally
recovered from my injury, I returned to pulling sentry duties across the
installation. These duties would often prove uneventful with long hours spent
with no personal contact however occasionally the monotony was broken by the
sound of alert sirens and the sight of pilots rushing for their aircraft. This
would be such a thrill with a rush of adrenaline because it was always unknown
whether or not it was just another drill or the pilots were actually launching
on a real time mission.

The facilities
at Memmingen had been constructed in 1937 and were utilized by the Luftwaffe
during the Second World War. One of the buildings in which I worked was one of
the original structures used by the Germans during World War II and many times
I often found myself wondering who had been here and used my office during the
years of the Third Reich. What happened
to them? Had they survived the war? I never received these answers but it still
proved interesting to think about none the less.

Our West German
unit’s insignia consisted primarily of blue and white, the colors of Bavaria
and incorporated two planes against a blue background over the Alps and the
NATO symbol in the upper left corner of the insignia. Two of the subordinate
squadrons utilized World War II era insignia with the first squadron utilizing
the ‘Grunherz’ emblem reflecting their title ‘Green Hearts’ and the second
squadron utilizing the Edelweiss insignia as their emblem.

Training
exercises were a regular occurrence during the duration of my assignment in
Germany. These exercises varied in scope and scenario ranging from small scale
exercises to the larger NATO exercises which included the REFORGER exercises.
West German and Canadian armed forces fought mock battles on the airfield and
on several occasions friendly aircraft from other NATO nations would fly low level
mock air attacks on the base facilities. I was confident in our Luftwaffe
partner’s ability to fight a coordinated effort alongside us. At the time,
Germany was a warzone without being exposed to an exchange of gunfire. Battle
tanks and artillery moved freely through towns and villages and combat aircraft
were constantly flying in training scenarios to prepare for conducting live
combat operations in the event of war in all weather scenarios to maintain the
upmost state of combat readiness. One of the things I’ll never forget is the
sounds of working at Memmingen, between the roar of the F-104G Starfighters
taking off and landing day and night and on occasions ground crews test firing
the Starfighter’s 20mm Vulcan cannon you tend to get used to the noise of daily
operations.

There was always
a looming threat for potential terrorist encounters particularly during that
time. The Baader-Meinhof Gang and Red Army Faction amongst other groups were a
threat we took very seriously in the mid 1980s. We were always receiving or
conducting detailed briefings on terrorist activities in the region and we were
constantly on the lookout for them within the vicinity of our facilities. The
local German Polizei and the Air Force OSI services worked hand in hand to ensure
we had the latest detailed reports on the groups and any potential threat.
Sometimes I would work as a liaison between our unit and our Luftwaffe
counterparts. I was on duty the night of 15 April 1986, when President Ronald
Reagan authorized Operation El Dorado Canyon which was a series of strikes
against targets in Libya. The event came
as surprise when our shifts that usually were eight hours were extended to
twelve hours. The heightened state of alert caused much excitement and we were
never quite sure of what was exactly going on or the cause behind some of the
things we were doing but we were ready none the less. The going joke was that
even though we were ready to go to war at a moment’s notice we would go to
neutral Switzerland which was only some forty miles away.

On one occasion
before we were to start our normal shifts, we learned from an outgoing flight
coming off guard duty that one of the German tower sentries had attempted to
commit suicide. In the United States, a flight is organized roughly into 100
men but due to the small size of our unit in Germany, a flight for us was
roughly about ten men. An investigation was launched into the incident and it
became aware that the suspect had suffered a particularly bad breakup with his
girlfriend and became fixated on the idea of taking his own life. Standing
guard in what was known as a mini-tower, a small two man observation post
roughly six feet above the ground the sentry had taken his issued G3 rifle and
placed the barrel to his stomach and pulled the trigger. By the time that I had
come up for duty, the sentry had already been removed however things got worse
when during my shift, several VIPs came to visit and viewed the mess left in
the tower. The sentry survived his wounds but his fate following the incident
is uncertain.

In April of 1986, the nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl facility in
Ukraine went into meltdown and spewed radioactive clouds across Europe. We were
issued strict orders not to go outside and no one was certain what would happen
in the wake of such a disaster. Memmingen is located about 1,000 miles from
Chernobyl but even at this distance, roughly 40 to 50% of Europe would be
contaminated by fallout from the Chernobyl disaster. Although, I have had
follow up checkups and appear to be healthy and unaffected, several members of
the 7261 MUNSS
have developed signs of exposure to radioactive materials which include loss of
enamel in teeth and degenerative disk development in the spine, as well as
having children with birth defects and in others sterility. Thyroid cancer is another potential
concern. Because it is impossible to
prove that Chernobyl is the cause, it is not considered a harmful source of
radiation by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Due to the amount of
radioactive fallout absorbed into the water and soil, were told not to eat
foods grown locally such as vegetables or meats.

Life in
Memmingen became routine but at times there were groups that posed problems for
us. One of these groups was of course members of the United States Army. During
REFORGER, several of them became intoxicated and caused some problems but never
anything too serious that we could not handle. The second group, were usually
Jaguar pilots from the British Royal Air Force. They would cause random
mischief and in one instance even stole a restricted area warning sign from one
of the perimeter fences.

My time in
Germany came to an end in December 1986 when I was reassigned to Barksdale Air
Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana. This would be my final duty station where
I would end my enlistment.

When I
arrived at Barksdale, I was assigned under the US Air Force’s Strategic Air
Command where I performed essentially the same duties I had in Germany at the
airbase in Louisiana. I went from the real feel of Germany, to the simulated atmosphere
of stateside duty assignments. The massive force of Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
strategic bombers was kept on a constant state of readiness, capable of being
deployed 24-7, 365. The assignment to Barksdale did not share the same appeal
as the assignment to Memmingen and I do not share the same strength of bond
with service members from the SAC assignment that I do with members from the
Germany assignment. Like Germany however, there were often readiness exercises
conducted and sirens would sound often to the response of crews rushing to
their aircraft and preparing to deploy in response to attack anywhere in the
world. I would finish my Air Force enlistment at the rank of Senior Airman, and
even though I was urged to attend the Air Force Non Commissioned Officer’s
Academy I chose not to reenlist.

On 17
September 1987, tragedy struck when SGT. Joseph M. Burgio Sr. was killed when
his Boeing KC-10 Stratotanker exploded on the ground at Barksdale. Three dozen others
were injured in the disaster and following an investigation it was learned that
a fuel leak caused the fatal explosion. While offloading fuel from the tanker,
a generator unit ignited the fumes of the fuel and caused the explosion. I
became aware of the disaster when one of my fellow service members SGT. Gray;
stated that something was on fire. I turned to see a large black cloud of smoke
billowing into the sky. I turned in time to see one of the largest explosions
I’d ever witnessed echo through the area in a series of three blasts. The first
explosion blew apart the center section of the plane, the second blew apart the
nose and the final blast occurred when the wings ruptured.

Since
Barksdale is the home of the Eighth Air Force headquarters, we took up
defensive positions and only after it became apparent that this was an accident
and not an attack did we stand down. While the investigation was carried out on
the accident, I pulled security over the wreck many times.

By the time
my Air Force enlistment concluded, I was a Senior Airman and I had been awarded
the Air Force Training Ribbon, Overseas Long Tour Ribbon, Air Force Good
Conduct Medal, as well as the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. Of particular
significance to me were letters of service and a plaque presented to me for my
service in the 7261 MUNSS at Memmingen. I will never forget the many American,
German, and other European allies and friends I served with throughout the
duration of my enlistment and I definitely have no regrets about my service
during the Cold War.